By Caio Miari and Marcus Rebelo 

Led by a 64-point first set triumph, the Centennial Colts men's volleyball team bounced back from a road sweep against Loyalist, with a 3-1 home opener win (33-31, 25-19, 26-28, 25-15) over the La Cite Coyotes Friday.

The Colts (1-1) kicked off the match with an electrifying first set. Both teams prevailed on offence and the set ended after two great defensive plays by Centennial.

First, Marvin Reid dove into the ground and passed the ball over the net straight to the floor with the game tied at 31. Then, a collective block on La Cite's six-foot-four Christian-Philippe Mian gave the set its final play.

"It impacts a lot," said head coach Adriana Bento about how much Reid's diving play played a factor in the rest of the game. "When you leave a moment in which the ball appeared to touch the ground and someone suddenly put the ball in the air and say, 'Let's win this.' That's how I want my six players to be like."

Reid finished the game with 14 digs and six points.

Timothy Ho had a game-high 18 points. He was the only Colt to score double-digit points throughout the two hour and 15 minute match.

Dylen Dion-Vachon, Sebastien Gareau, and Mian reached the 10-plus-point mark for the Coyotes (0-2).

"I think they performed well considering what was planned, but it still could've been a little better," said Bento post-game about her squad's performance. "My team is very nervous sometimes, so the idea is to take this anxiety away and let them play with more freedom. Today, I did a lot of tests because this is a new team. From my first line to my last line, a lot of chances were made. And my last line was the best."

After the momentum of the first set victory, the Colts managed to win the second set as well, this time without an extended score, 25-19.

Although the host Colts didn't sweep the visitors, who clinched the third — and again an extended — set, it wasn't enough to take the first win of the season away from the Colts, as an impressive 25-15 third set closed the night for Centennial. 

"(Facing a very resilient team) counts a lot. My team is fighting with its mentality," said the former professional Brazilian volleyball player. "There were a lot of parts of the game that the referee made a bad call, and they (my players) wanted to fight him. I told them, 'Forget about that, we have to forget it and play.' I think we can never drop your guard."

After snapping a 15-game regular season losing streak that carried over from last year's campaign, Centennial will return to action with quickly with a Saturday evening affair against the Algonquin Thunder at 6:00pm.